The Indian cricket team batting coach Vikram Rathour reveals the reason for the early entry of Rishabh Pant in the Australia Test. In a video chat with Ashwin, Rathour points out that the idea literally came from Indian skipper Virat Kohli.
Vikram Rathour Reveals the Reason for the early entry of Rishabh Pant
The promotion did the trick as Pant went on to score 97 runs to take the match closer than anyone expected.
The match ended in a draw but India’s strategy had worked. Pant was promoted again during the final day of the Gabba Test and his gritty knock of 89 runs helped India seal a historic win in Brisbane. However, the Indian batting coach revealed that it was Virat Kohli’s idea to promote Pant up in the batting order.
While speaking to Indian off-spinner R Ashwin in a video on his Youtube channel, Rathour said
“It came from Virat to be honest. He said, ‘in case we play both left-handers, it will be a good idea if we can send Pant at No. 5 so that we can have a left-right combination. We discussed it with Ajinkya also. Then during the match, in the first innings, we decided to let him go at No.6.”
Rathour further revealed why they decided to send him at no. 5 in the 2nd innings at SCG. “Irrespective of when we lose wickets, this is the last innings, and we were going for the runs. The intent was not to draw the Test. Till we can, we were going to go for the win. That was the right time to send him in,” Rathour added.
“Ravi Shastri is a great believer of left-right combination and thought for a long time that Australians don’t bowl that well to the left-handers. And Ajinkya agreed to send him at No.5.”
Rathour further revealed that there were even discussions to send Pant at no. 4 if they got a good start.
“I was telling Ajinkya if we get a good start we can send him at No. 4 in the first innings but that didn’t happen,” Rathour added.
